Why Bloodborne Is the Perfect Game for the Halloween Season | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

This Halloween, there's no better place to visit for a spooky, terrifying night of action and monsters than Bloodborne's cursed town of Yharnum.

When it comes to Halloween, horror video games are a popular way to pass the time during this ghoulish season. Iconic titles such as Resident Evil and Silent Hillfill players with thrills and chills, from the shock of a zombie popping out of a mansion's corner to a skinless dog hopping out of the fog. These kinds of games rely on pseudoscience and otherworldly terrors rather than the classical Gothic style that defined staple Halloween stories like Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Luckily for those who are still entertained by macabre-yet-beautiful horrors of this era, FromSoftware has crafted both a magnificent homage to 19th-centuryGothic literature and a shockingly effective horror atmosphere in the framework of an action game. And much like the story of Frankenstein's monster, Bloodborne is equal parts terrifying and tragic, with the traversal of the streets of Yharnam being just as much of an emotional exercise as it is one of patience.

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Much likeDark Souls, Bloodborne is a third-person action-adventure RPG where the player crafts their warrior and is thrust into a harsh and unforgiving fantasy world where death is a natural part of the setting, as well as an essential mechanic. The difficulty of FromSoftware's action games has gone down in infamy, but the harrowing dangers and high skill curve only serve to communicate to the player just how scary the bloody city of Yharnam truly is.

Yharnam is deceptively beautiful even underneath the pale blue light of the moon and the dull grays and browns that blanket villages and castles across the city. Helping with the ominous look of Yharnam are the ogival arches and buttresses that are staples of Gothic architecture, evoking Bloodborne's classical horror roots with these structures alone. The striking imagery of the intricately-sculpted arches and columns of several 19th-centurybuildings underneath a foggy night would be enough to cause dread in the player's mind. Still, it is only when the creatures of the night rear their hideous heads towards the Hunter that the nightmare truly begins.

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The people of Yharnam are plagued with madness borne out of a culture based entirely on blood magic and infusion, which heals wounds and cures other diseases at the cost of wearing away a patient's sanity at best and transforming them into werewolves at worst. While there are no actual vampires in the game,Bloodborneevokes imagery not unlikeDracula with the endless night, high-collar robes of default outfit. There is also the reliance on blood in almost every aspect of the game, be it for healing or combat, at the cost of the player character's sanity and control as they slowly transform into a mindless beast.

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Why Bloodborne Is the Perfect Game for the Halloween Season | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero